“School-Based Epistemologies”?: Exploring Conceptions of How, What, and Why Students Know

Abstract

The research reported here is concerned with children's relations both to knowledge and to learning. How are these relations constructed within the context of formal schooling? What is their significance for school success? And in particular, how might such relations be enhanced for students who manifest longstanding academic difficulties? These questions are addressed from a theoretical standpoint that construes such relations as situated “school-based epistemologies” which, furthermore, are continually construed and, therefore, sensitive to interventions aimed at ameliorative re/mediation. The methodology involved obtaining descriptive information contrasting children (grades 5/6) with varying learning histories in terms of their beliefs about knowledge and its enhancement. Additionally, children's actual on-task strategy use and the characteristics of resultant knowledge acquisition and organization were contrasted under two goals conditions (learning goals versus performance goals). Findings suggest that: (a) children with varying learning histories mediate in-school learning with qualitatively distinct epistemologies and (b) irrespective of actual achievement level, the “learning goals” task instructions significantly enhanced students' thinking.